NREL Director: United States Can Double Energy Productivity by 2030

Double energy production by 2030 is the message that Dan Arvizu, director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and a blue-ribbon panel of 20 energy experts recently drove home at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. They declared that the United States can double its energy productivity by 2030—and do it in ways that bolster the economy.

Arvizu and other members of the Alliance to Save Energy (ASE) Commission on National Energy Efficiency Policy said that doubling energy productivity could create a million new jobs, save the average household $1,000 per year and reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by one-third.

The commission said its ambitious goals can be accomplished by unleashing investments in energy-efficiency concepts and technologies throughout the economy, modernizing our energy infrastructure, reforming regulatory measures to promote efficiency, and educating consumers and business leaders on ways to reduce energy waste.

In December, Arvizu testified on the importance of greater energy efficiency before the U.S. Senate ­Finance Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure.

“Perhaps the most compelling evidence that energy-efficiency measures can have dramatic effects in the future is the often-overlooked fact that they already have produced so many benefits for our nation,” Arvizu noted.

To the same point, a report by the commission showed that the nation would be using fully 50 percent more energy than we currently use today had we not taken advantage of all the energy-efficiency opportunities we have developed and deployed over the past three decades.

In addition to NREL’s research and development on renewable-energy generation technologies, the laboratory has major programs to improve energy efficiency in the nation’s two largest sectors of energy use: buildings and transportation.